Path-Goal Theory, Good Leader, and Lack of Acceptance Post.

In the past five years I have been at three schools and with three completely different administrators. My current principal meets every aspect which a principal should meet. For me, my current administration is close to perfection. My principal uses a path-goal theory. She has supported me in every personal and professional goal I have decided to pursue. She does not set me up to fail as I have had previous administrators do in the past. She guides me along the way giving help when help is needed and pushing me to find a way to do what is best for the school and students. She works with the teacher to overcome specific challenges with students or parents. I believe this is the best method for our school and we are fortunate that this is how our administrator operates.

Groups can be formed for numerous reasons and contain many different types of people. You can have a few members or many members. No matter what type of group you have, you need a good leader to facilitate the group. The leader of this group is not necessarily a dictator. They must make each person feel welcome and part of the group. They need to listen to the group. The leader needs to be organized and follow an objected outline. The group must agree that they are all working toward the same goals. The leader needs to allow each group member to insert as much input as needed and required. I would compare a group to any sports team. The leader is the coach and the group members are the players. It is the coach’s job to direct and motivate the team. The team’s job is to do a lot of the hard work that the outsiders see. The coach/leader job is a little more non-public but it is very important. It should be a fun experience as long as things get done. According to http://effectivemeetings.com a team leader needs the following attributes, 1) Coach do not demonstrate, do not hold the groups hand. Let them learn how to do things. 2) Provide constructive criticism, use the sandwich technique. Say something nice, something they need to work on, and then something nice again. This will help ease the pain of the so called negative (bad) remark. 3) Back off, let your group do the tasks you asked them to do. 4) Try to be positive, the group will mimic the leader. Lastly, 5) Value your group’s ideas. Help develop their ideas into working productive aspects.

This year there has been only one main issue. “There is a lack of acceptance” by a few teachers that we need to be more technology sound as a school. Although we currently have a technology coordinator, I was brought in to help with the technology improvement of our school. One of the improvements I have helped implement is the use of an online grading system. Besides being easy to use after a little learning curve, it is beneficial mainly because any parent can check their child’s grade online. A few teachers do not see the need for this and the need for changing how they have done things for the last 10 years. Their reason behind this is the feeling of discouragement when there is a little setback or technology is just not working that day. Dennis Grice of St. John’s Lutheran School of Orange, CA recently discussed his frustration of when Web 2.0 tools do not work at http://tinyurl.com/3atkgy. I understand the new factor and how it could be scary. As teachers, however we have to admit to ourselves that we do not have all the answers all the time and that we will be willing to be flexible. In my past school the main problem was “inadequate group leadership, organization, and communication.” The principal checked out mentally my last year of teaching at that school. She would only communicate with one teacher, who was a personal friend for a long time. She would say we said things when we did not. She passed the buck when issues or problems came up. She would blame anyone she could in order to make herself look good. It really tore the staff into two groups. This was one of the reasons why I decided to take my current call. I am very content to be at my current school and to not have to deal with the numerous problems and issues that were at my last two placements.